Garment support assembly



June 30, 1964 I KlNG 3,139,19i

GARMENT SUPPORT ASSEMBLY Filed July 26, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. LQY E KIN G 2 49. mby.

ATTY.

June 30, 1964 1.. E. KING GARMENT SUPPORT ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 26, 1962 United States Patent Office 3,139,191 Patented June 30, 1964 3,139,191 GARMENT SUPPORT ASSEMBLY Loy E. King, 3305 Etta Drive, Dallas 27, Tex. Filed July 26, 1962, Ser. No. 212,608 Claims. (Cl. 211122) This invention relates generally to structures for supporting garments and more particularly to a structure for supporting a large number of separate garments in an easily accessible manner.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a garment support assembly which is particularly adapted for installation in small inclosed spaces, such as an apartment closet, and which will greatly increase the available garment capacity of such a space.

Another object of this invention is to provide a movable garment support rack which includes a plurality of spaced hangers each of which is adapted to receive a large number of individual conventional coat-hangers and thus greatly increase the garment capacity of the garment support rack.

A further object is to provide a fixed structure frame for permanent installation in a closet space which includes a fixed circular track for reception and guidance of a movable rack by means of a plurality of rollers aflixed to the rack.

An additional object is to provide a unique roller unit through which the movable rack is transported around the circular track to present the rack at a desired circumferential location.

Another object is to provide a novel fixture for permanent installation to the ceiling or a horizontal partition in a small space.

And yet another object is to provide a rugged and durable device for the purpose intended and yet such a device that is easy and economical to install and extremely simple to manually operate and requires Virtually no maintenance.

These and other objects and advantages will be apparent from an examination of the following specification and drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 represents a top plan view of the complete garment support assembly of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the device shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged detail view, taken partly in cross section along lines 3-3 of FIGURE 1, of the mobile roller unit of this invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 but taken along the movable rack at a point 44 removed from the roller unit.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing it will be observed that the complete garment support assembly of this invention, identified at 2, consists basically of a rigid structure frame 3 and a travelling garment support rack 4.

The rigid structure frame 3 includes two vertically aligned track members 5 and 6 which are supported in space by a plurality of uniquely shaped brackets 7 and 8. The track members 5 and 6 each include flat sides 9 and curved ends 10 which face each other at assembly to receive and guide a roller wheel 12. The track members 5 and 6 are formed in a generally circular shape as seen in FIGURE 1, and are each attached to all of the brackets 7 and 8 by means of bolts 13 and nuts 14. The lower track member supports each roller and provides the track by means of its curved end 10, on which the rollers travel. The upper track member 5 provides a means for locking the rollers in place but do not ordinarily maintain physical contact with any of the rollers. The upper track member 5 does however maintain physical contact with rollers 15 of the track 4 as will be seen in FIGURE 4. The frame 3 is attached to the underside of the ceiling or other flat surface by screws (not shown) that pass thru holes 16 of the bent flat portion of brackets 7.

The travelling garment support rack 4 comprises a circular formed thin sheet of flexible material 17 which may be metal, wood, fiber or of other suitable composition, and a plurality of outer blocks 18 which are attached to the sheet 17 and container brackets 19 by means of taper head bolts 20 and nuts 22. The members 18 and 19 cooperate to support and maintain the structural configuration of sheet 17 and to support roller wheel 12 by means of screw 23 which is locked in engagement with members 18 and 19 by nut 24 which cooperates with the enlarged screw head 25 to support wheel 12. After installation, the wheel 12 then supports the members 17-19 in such a manner that the entire support rack 4 may be moved in a circle or oval about the fixed frame 3 by slight manual pressure on blocks 18. The lower ends of brackets 19 terminate in container elements 26 which are adapted to receive a quantity of conventional coat hangers with garments as indicated at G.

The brackets 7 and 8 each include a bulged section 27 into which the roller wheel and screw head 25 may project without frictional interference as would be the case if a straight bracket were employed. The small rollers 15 are supported for rotation on vertical rod 28 mounted for pivoting in mount 29 on the inner wall of sheet 17 by bolt assemblies 30. The track members 5 and 6 may be reinforced if desired by turnbuckle rods 32 and may be made to assume a circular, oval or other desired shape. A fixed shape could also be maintained by joining the two most central brackets 7 by a single rigid bar (not shown). The bearings for wheel 12 and roller 15 may be made of a well known industrial material identified as Teflon and thus will not require any oil or maintenance. Likewise the lower track member 6 may be Teflon for long wear and quiet operation. Preferably the entire wheel or roller is Teflon or nylon. It needs be understood that the embodiment disclosed herein is exemplary and does not confine the construction to the specific parts shown but rather this invention is limited only by a fair and reasonable interpretation of the scope of the following claims.

It will be noted that the thin sheet of material 17 is so arranged that it obscures the unattractive view of the tracks and all inner workings of this device even when the material 17 is flexing and rotating. This also is a safety feature that prevents clothes from accidently being caught between the roller wheel or roller and their respective tracks. Since a portion of the sheet material 17 is rigidly clamped between hand grip blocks 18 and garment brackets 19, this section of the sheet 17 will be non-flexible even when it travels around a radius.

What is claimed is:

1. A garment support assembly comprising: a fixed rigid circular frame including an upper and lower track, a circular garment support rack means rotatably engaging said frame for movement thereabout, a series of roller wheels on the rack means supporting said rack means from said lower track, a continuous circular shaped flexible sheet of material in said rack means, said roller wheels mounted on the rack means and the continuous flexible sheet, rollers attached to said sheet and engaging the said upper track and spacing and guiding said sheet from said frame as it flexes during its travel around said frame.

2. A garment support assembly as in claim 1, wherein said upper track cooperates with said roller to lock it in place and prevent its removal from said lower track.

3. A garment support assembly as in claim 1, wherein said sheet of material includes a plurality of alternately spaced flexible and non-flexible sections and wherein manual operating means are positioned adjacent each non-flexible section. 9

4. A garment support assembly as in claim 2 wherein said roller wheels are positioned vertically between said tracks and wherein said rigid frame includes a plurality of spaced brackets each having a concave section in the area adjacent said wheels.

5. A garment support assembly comprising: in combination, a fixed rigid curved frame including an upper and lower track, a garment support rack means rotatably engaging said frame for movement thereabout, a series References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 565,305 Shanklin Aug. 4, 1896 1,036,589 Eggleston Aug. 27, 1912 1,060,318 Caneavri Apr. 29, 1913 2,780,258 Collette Apr. 18, 1961 2,983,393 Campbell May 9, 1961 2,995,405 Ferdig Aug. 8, 1961 

5. A GARMENT SUPPORT ASSEMBLY COMPRISING: IN COMBINATION, A FIXED RIGID CURVED FRAME INCLUDING AN UPPER AND LOWER TRACK, A GARMENT SUPPORT RACK MEANS ROTATABLY ENGAGING SAID FRAME FOR MOVEMENT THEREABOUT, A SERIES OF ROLLER WHEELS ON THE RACK MEANS SUPPORTING SAID RACK MEANS FROM SAID LOWER TRACK, A CONTINUOUS CURVED FLEXIBLE SHEET OF MATERIAL IN SAID RACK MEANS, MEANS FOR SPACING AND GUIDING SAID SHEET FROM SAID FRAME AS IT FLEXES DURING ITS TRAVEL AROUND SAID FRAME. 